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Dawson’s longer, he was only a summer employee, and I was year-round, but Rick knew I hated being in charge. During the year when we weren’t as busy, and Brooke and Hale were away at school, if Rick couldn’t be in charge, he let Alyssa or Rodney do it. He only relied on me as a last resort, and I was fine with that.
    “Okay guys, we’re all set up out front, so let’s do this,” Hale said, as if leading his baseball team to a championship game. He was just a natural leader. I was not.
    I waited a few seconds until I was sure Brooke and Hale had left the kitchen before I turned and followed them. I knew I’d have to face her eventually, but until then I’d put off the confrontation as long as I had to.
    “Jared,” Rick called out to me as soon as I turned around.
    I looked over my shoulder at him. “Yeah?”
    “ I hired a new girl today. Cassie, I think her name is. She’s starting tomorrow, and she’s training with you.”
    I felt my stomach twist, and then I sighed, letting out the aggression I suddenly felt in a long breath of air. He’d hired Cassie Witter, and he wanted me to train her. I trained everyone, so that made sense, but for some reason it bugged me that he wanted me to train her . I didn’t like her.
    “Sure. No problem,” I told Rick, because I wasn’t a confrontational person. He nodded in thanks before turning back to Samir who was prepping salads.
    “Du- ude!” Scott said, pushing up behind me when I tried to leave the kitchen. “You are so lucky! Will you ask her about me? Will you find out if she likes me? Please? Please!”
    I ignored him like I usu ally did when he acted the way he was because of Cassie Witter. It had been a while since he’d gone all crazy over her. He’d initially gotten excited when she’d moved home a few months earlier, but his excitement had tapered off when he never really saw her outside of her house. Once and a while we had Cassie sightings around town, and it would spark something in Scott, and he’d consider talking to her or asking her out, but then he’d see how down she looked and would change his mind. Then he’d spend the next few hours talking about how sad she’d looked and wishing he could do something to make her feel better. It was seriously annoying.
    And okay, so I guess I should have felt bad for her too. I mean, I knew what had happened to her. There had been a shooting at Coleman College where she went to school, and apparently she’d been injured. I knew all about it – unfortunately more than I ever wanted to know.
    In truth, I probably should cut her some slack. I knew exactly how she felt. I figured it would n’t hurt me to be nice to her. Even if I didn’t like her, no one should have had to go through what she had. Or what I had, if I was being honest. I’d been in the dining hall the day of the shooting. I’d also been shot.
    I wasn’t a student a Coleman, but my older brother Evan was. I’d gone up to visit him, and we’d been getting dinner when a guy had stood up and opened-fire. I’d been hit in the side, just as I was setting my tray down on the table, by one of the first shots the guy had fired and was on the ground before I could process what was happening. Thankfully Evan had gone outside to meet his girlfriend who was going to eat with us, so he hadn’t been in the dining hall during the shooting, but I had. I’d been there for all of it as I’d bled onto the floor and wondered if I was going to die while all around me shots were being fired and bodies were hitting the floor. It was the stuff of nightmares, and even after four months and countless hours of therapy later, it still rocked me from time to time.
    Yeah, I could cut Cassie some slack. Definitely. 
    Besides, I couldn’t waste my time hating someone when I had enough shit going on in my life. I’d just train her, be polite to her and be done with it. Then I’d get back to focusing on the real stuff I was dealing with – namely working